development of the labor movement of our country, its achievements, its hopes and its aspirations, all of which are possessed to a remarkable degree by our esteemed fellow trade-unionist, Brother Duncan. We moreover congratulate Brother Duncan upon his selection and for the eminently successful manner in which he discharged the obligations resting upon him. We declare that had there been a trade union movement in Russia it would have had a stabilizing force and a far-reaching beneficent effect in the crisis now resting so heavily upon the Russian people. The Russian people have lived for centuries in one of the most brutalized autocracies that has ever disgraced the pages of history; they were denied the right of self-government, the right to congregate for any economic or political purposes, the right to attain an education, and because of these limitations there existed a lack of experience that would have been of priceless value now in stabilizing and maintaining their new-found freedom. The trade union movement, had it existed in Russia, would have developed discipline and a central power not of an autocratic nature, but a power rather to execute and carry into effect the democratically expressed will of the majority of the people. We note with the greatest satisfaction the cable messages of fraternity and good will sent to the people and the provisional government of the new Russian democracy by President Gompers and by the Executive Council of the American Federation of Labor. Upon the question of conferences held and proposed by the International Federation of Trade Unions and other associations, we shall have more to say under a separate caption. Suffice it at present to say we concur and recommend for endorsement the action of our officers and the Executive Council in connection with these important conferences. Peace Terms There can be no true co-operation from an international standpoint except where the elected and responsible representatives of the workers participate under an agreement which recognizes and safeguards the rights of each nation to fix and declare its own destiny, and yet broad enough, big enough and intelligent enough to submerge selfishness and non-essentials to the common good of the workers of all nations. Peace terms should presage a condition tending to a lasting peace grounded upon conditions that are just, fair and honorable to the peoples of all countries. We agree with the Executive Council that "The government should be only an instrumentality of the people instead of dominating and actuating their lives," and further, that "This terrific war must wipe out all vestiges of the old concept that the nation belongs to the ruler or government," and moreover, "There is no element in all nations more concerned in the achievements of conditions making for permanent peace between nations than the working people, who constitute the majority of every nation. The future must be constructed upon broader lines than the past. We insist, therefore, that the Government of the United States provide adequate and direct representatives of wageearners among the plenipotentiaries sent to the Peace Congress, and urge upon the labor movements of other countries to take like action." The Executive Council offers the following declaration as a basis upon which peace should be negotiated: 1. The combination of the free peoples of the world in a common covenant for genuine and practical co-operation to secure justice and therefore peace in relations between nations. 2. Governments derive their just power from the consent of the governed. 3. No political or economic restrictions meant to benefit some nations and to cripple or embarrass others. 4. No indemnities or reprisals based upon vindictive purposes or deliberate desire to injure, but to right manifest wrongs. 5. Recognition of the rights of small nations and of the principle, "No people must be forced under sovereignty under which it does not wish to live." 6. No territorial changes or adjustment of power except in furtherance of the welfare of the peoples affected and in furtherance of world peace. In addition to these basic principles, which are based upon declarations of our President of these United States, there should be incorporated in the treaty that shall constitute the guide of nations in the new period and conditions into which we enter at the close of the war the following declarations, fundamental to the best interests of all nations and of vital importance to wage-earners: 1. No article or commodity shall be shipped or delivered in international commerce in the production of which children under the age of 16 have been employed or permitted to work. 2. It shall be declared that the basic workday in industry and commerce shall not exceed eight hours. 3. Involuntary servitude shall not exist except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted. 4. Establishment of trial by jury. Your committee concurs in the foregoing with a clear understanding that it is submitted as a basis upon which peace terms may be negotiated. In addition to the peace terms which the Executive Council recommended in its report, the following proposal should be incorporated: The governments of the various nations shall exchange labor representatives, according to them the same authority and honor that are given to any other diplomat. Governments have long been accustomed to exchange commercial, industrial and financial representatives, and we submit that this concept ought to be widened to include not only the above-named interests but also those who furnish the human labor energies essential to co-ordination for production. One of the paramount facts which clearly stands out, above all others, in this unprecedented world war is that labor is a basic force in producing the materials of civilization and is co-equal with all other essential elements in national life. It is not only fitting that labor should be given this merited recognition, but no other single policy would contribute more effectually to the democratization of relations between nations, thereby strengthening forces and conditions that make for permanent peace based upon essential human justice. If a labor conference is held prior to the war's close or prior to a time in which the belligerent nations are to participate in a peace conference, labor would be forced to declare specific terms presaging the conditions upon which peace should rest; this implies an inadvisable attitude not only for labor but, moreover, for our country as well. Neither American labor nor the American Government should now state the final binding terms of peace. Both, however, can be instrumental and exercise a potential force at the proper and opportune time. This is a world war in which seventeen nations are allied against the central powers. Our government did not start this war. We should not, in the light of present events, call a peace conference or arbitrarily name inflexible peace terms. Such a responsibility rests upon our government and is a prerogative and responsibility it should first assume and exercise. We concur in the action of the Executive Council in refusing to be led into a premature peace conference, whether emanating from Germany or originating with her sympathizers here or elsewhere, and congratulate it upon its sagacious judgment in refusing to participate or becoming involved in any schemes of this character. Conditions are changing from day to day and that which appeals to our judgment today as proper fundamental peace terms may be changed over night. Genuine democracy, the great issue now in war, had no lodgment in the minds and hearts of those who started this war; neither was it an appreciable issue until made so by our entrance into the war. Other sound principles may develop, which we should like later to make one of the basic principles upon which peace should be declared. When a peace conference is held it should be at a time and place when and where the workers of the vanquished as well as those of the triumphant countries may participate upon an equality, in order that the best interests of labor and of the trade union movement may be fully promoted. When victory is achieved none will be quicker to extend the fraternal hand of trade union fellowship to the organized workers in all countries now at war, or will do so more heartily than will the American Federation of Labor. In connection with this subject we call special attention to the November issue of the American Federationist, which contains much interesting and instructive correspondence. The San Francisco convention of the American Federation of Labor in adopting a part of the report of the Committee on International Labor Relations, instructed the Executive Council to call a labor peace conference of all nations at the time and place the peace conference is held by the belligerent nations, and authorized the Executive Council to send two delegates, one of whom should be the President of the American Federation of Labor. This action was reaffirmed at the Baltimore convention in 1916. Your committee recommends that that action be again confirmed with the addition that at least five delegates, one of whom shall be the President of the American Federation of Labor, be selected to participate in this conference. Pan-American Relations We note with extreme interest all that is said by the Executive Council under this caption, and that the representatives of the organized workers of Porto Rico, Yucatan, Mexico, Cuba, Santo Domingo, Peru, Argentine, St. Kitts Island, British West Indies, Chili, United States of Colombia, Uruguay and Panama have expressed their approval of the Pan-American Federation of Labor. We urge that the Executive Council give its earnest attention to and endeavors to organize a Pan-American Federation of Labor and to encourage the development of a well-disciplined cohesive trade union movement in our sister republics of the south. The best interests of the workers of these republics as well as our own and of all countries can be best safeguarded by trade unions and trade union activities. Much interesting information concerning the activity of the officers of the American Federation of Labor and their helpfulness to the workers of the southern republics can be found in the November issue of the American Federationist. We recommend that the Executive Council continue to give what assistance and counsel it can for the development of the trade union movement in all Pan-American countries. This report of the Committee on Resolutions was adopted unanimously: WHEREAS, At no time in the history of the labor movement have conditions been more fraught with dangerous situations than at present, this because of our entrance into the world's war; and WHEREAS, The slightest misstep or mistake in commission or omission, or an error in judgment would have placed organized labor in a position that it would take years to overcome. The situation not of our seeking led to conditions over which we had no control, and required strong, clear-sighted and courageous leadership; and WHEREAS, President Samuel Gompers and the Executive Council proved equal to the occasion, and proved their loyalty to the trade union movement, to labor in general, and to our country as well; therefore, be it RESOLVED, That this convention in regular session assembled fully endorse and concur in the course pursued by President Gompers and the Executive Council in calling a conference of the National and International officers on March 12th, nearly one month before war was declared, and concur in the action taken at that conference at which the representatives of labor declared their unswerving loyalty and fidelity to the labor movement and to our common country in peace or in war, and while asserting that insofar as lies within its power labor would suffer none of the successes achieved as a result of years of sacrifice and struggle to be taken away from labor on any pretext, and while hoping for an honorable peace, they declared that if our country were drawn into the maelstrom we would stand squarely behind the administration and our country, and urged that all members of organized labor do likewise. Moreover, we unreservedly endorse the action of President Gompers and the Executive Council in all of their actions in connection with the war and all other labor men in accepting positions of trust upon boards, commissions and committees, and declare that in their so doing the best interests of organized labor have been advanced, safeguarded and protected. Your committee has given most careful consideration to all of the matter contained under the caption "Labor and the War." The incorporation of the President's address to Congress was an advisable addition to the official records of this convention. It was, also, most appropriate to incorporate "American Labor's Position in Peace or in War," adopted in Washington, D. C., March 12, 1917. Your committee desires to express its well-considered approval of the soldiers' and sailors' compensation legislation. With the assistance of the Executive Council, protective insurance was established for our soldiers and sailors and their dependents; more thoroughgoing in its provisions and more protective of the interests of those who are going to bear the heat of battle than has been enacted in any other country. Through the Executive Council's efforts and under its guidance, a governmental insurance feature has been established upon a fundamentally sound basis, and in harmony with the position of the American trade union movement relative to the protection of those whose labor and whose lives contribute to the welfare and defense of our nation. Your committee desires to congratulate the Executive Council upon the marked progress which it made in securing labor representation upon the several governmental commissions and committees created in connection with the nation's participation in the war. Although we have just begun to take up the industrial problems created by the war, the labor representatives have, to a marked degree, proved not only the necessity for their participation, but the added efficiency which they have contributed. Their intimate knowledge of the human factors which had to be considered and applied, and their practical acquaintance with the problems existing in industry proved of the greatest value in contributing to the solution of many grave problems which have already been adjusted. Many grave industrial situations, with their threatening aspect to the nation's welfare, have been solved through their efforts. It has become apparent that the nation's resources must be called upon to the utmost degree for the nation's protection, and that a steadily increasing demand for the production of war materials must exist for some time, calling upon the greatest effort which the manpower and genius of our country can put forth. The burdens devolving upon the government's commissions and committees must continue to grow, their responsibilities to increase and their activities to become more far-reaching. It is essential that as these governmental activities increase, there should be an adequate representation of responsible members of the trade union movement to assist and advise and assume a full share of the duties and the responsibilities which devolve upon those who are to have the directing authority. Your committee, therefore, recommends that the Executive Council be instructed to present to the President of the United States the urgent necessity for the appointment of additional representatives of the trade union movement upon the existing commissions and committees, and upon those which may be appointed in the future, so that the trade union movement can give its fullest degree of cooperation to the government in the successful prosecution of the activities required to win the great cause in which we are now involved. INTER-ALLIED CONFERENCE LEAGUE Report of the American Federation of Labor delegates to the Inter-Allied Conference League held in England, September 10, 1917, to the Buffalo Convention November, 1917: On Monday morning, September 10, 1917, the Inter-Allied Conference League, representing the labor movement of France, Italy, Belgium, Canada, America, Serbia and Great Britain, opened. Mr. James O'Grady, M. P., presided, and in his introductory speech he went over the situation since the war began and as it now exists. In a masterly address he pointed out that this must be a business conference and must deal with all questions, whether industrial or political, that directly or indirectly affect the lives of the trade union organizations and their membership. We quote from his speech as follows: "From the commencement of the war the General Federation of Trade Unions has taken up a very strong attitude on this matter, and, in spite of representations made to us by the French, we still maintain the position which we took up when war broke out. All through we have been against any meeting of the international trade union movement which included enemy countries until the armies of the central powers were back behind their own frontiers. We do not take up that attitude because we have any deep-rooted animosity to the German people as a people, but on the one side you have the entente powers governed by democratic principles; on the other side you have the central powers governed by autocratic principles. Until these autocratic principles are destroyed forever by the people of the central powers, or until the people make a real attempt to destroy them, it is our opinion that a meeting between the two sides, at all events for the moment, is utterly impracticable and impossible. "One of the questions that will be discussed at this conference is the removal of the International Secretariat from Berlin to a town in a neutral country. Let there be no mistake about the position which has obtained for the last fourteen years. If I know the feeling of the trade unionists of the entente powers it is that never again are we going to allow the German trade union movement to dominate the international movement as it has done. Each country ought to stand upon its dignity. If it is a question of money, then we should be prepared to share the cost. If it is a question of work and organization, then each country should be prepared to play its part. Only on that foundation can we, in the future, prevent the trade union movement in Germany retaining the International Secretariat at Berlin and dominating the whole international. "I think I speak for the Management Committee of the General Federation of Trade Unions when I say that our one-time German comrades have lost the confidence of the British trade union movement. As far as we have been able to gather, the German trade union movement has never yet taken a step to protest against what has been done by their own Government in the countries which have been invaded by the central powers. We know that the Belgian and the Serbian trade union movements have been almost wiped off the face |